Ripley, Illinois

City: Ripley

County: Brown

State: Illinois

Lat/Long: 40.0167, -90.6333

The town of Ripley, eleven miles to the west of Beardstown, was established in what was at the time Schuyler County, and originally bore the name of Centreville due to its location in the center of that county. Because of its centrality, the town was considered as a possible location for the seat of Schuyler County, but was never selected as such. The first home built by a white settler in the area was constructed in 1834, the town was laid out in 1836, and a post office was established the following year. Centreville was renamed Ripley in 1837, possibly after either War of 1812 general Eleazer Wheelock Ripley or his namesake county in Indiana. Ripley was located in the portion of Schuyler County which was split off to become Brown County in 1839. Residents of the town voted to incorporate Ripley in 1865. In the mid-1840s the town was called Bartons Mills, and was also known for a time as Mobley.

Combined History of Schuyler and Brown Counties, Illinois (Philadelphia: W. R. Brink, 1882), 45, 340; James N. Adams, comp., Illinois Place Names (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Society, 1989), 488; Edward Callary, Place Names of Illinois (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2009), 297; An Act to Change the Name of the Town of Centreville.